Bulk Trash Pickup in San Diego, CA: Rules, Limits and Fees
What San Diego picks up at the curb, how many items you get, what needs an appointment, and what it costs. Straight from the city, checked and dated.
What San Diego collects, and what you do with the rest
Every city route below is capped. Read the last two columns first: they decide whether the city takes your load at all, or only part of it.
| Route | What it costs | How much it takes | The condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curbside, regular collection day | — | No city bulky item collection is offered. | The City of San Diego does not run a bulky item or curbside pickup service, so a mattress left at the curb will not be collected. Your options are a drop-off or a private hauler. |
| Miramar Landfill Mattress Collection Site | Free — mattresses and box springs are accepted at no charge under the state Bye Bye Mattress program. | No drop-off limit on mattresses and box springs. | Items must not be severely damaged, wet, twisted, frozen, soiled, or infested with bedbugs. |
| California | Free for residents at participating sites. | — | The program does not include free household pickup. Scheduled container pickups exist only for businesses handling at least 100 mattresses a month. |
| Hire a hauler | You pay — quotes come from local companies bidding against each other. | No item cap and no wrapping, residency or vehicle rule. | They carry it out; nothing has to reach the curb under its own steam. |
Putting it out with your regular trash in San Diego
The City of San Diego does not run a bulky item or curbside pickup service, so a mattress left at the curb will not be collected. Your options are a drop-off or a private hauler.
- How many items
- No city bulky item collection is offered.
Dropping it off yourself: Miramar Landfill Mattress Collection Site
- What it costs
- Free — mattresses and box springs are accepted at no charge under the state Bye Bye Mattress program.
- Opening hours
- Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- How much at a time
- No drop-off limit on mattresses and box springs.
- What they turn away
- Items must not be severely damaged, wet, twisted, frozen, soiled, or infested with bedbugs.
The other routes in San Diego, in full
The table above is the short version of each. These pages carry the whole rule — the hours, the proof, the caps and what gets turned away.
Or have someone take it
City routes are cheap but slow, and they all assume you can get the item to the curb yourself. If it is upstairs, if it is heavy, or if you need it gone this week, a local pro is the faster answer.
Post the job free, and local pros in San Diego bid on it. You pick the offer you like and pay your pro directly — JunkerClub takes no cut of the price.
See what mattress removal costs in San Diego →
What people actually pay — measured, not estimated
And a flat rate is only one company's number. When we put one real job out to bid, 12 local pros priced the same pile from the same photos: $225 to $1,250, median $525. Nobody else publishes this, because nobody else runs the auction.
Bulk pickup in San Diego — common questions
Is mattress recycling free in California?
Free for residents at participating sites. The program does not include free household pickup. Scheduled container pickups exist only for businesses handling at least 100 mattresses a month.
Where this comes from
Checked against official sources on 2026-08-19. City rules change — if something here does not match, the city page wins.
More on getting rid of stuff in San Diego
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